The present invention relates generally to communication techniques. The techniques include a system and method of communicating telephone messages, such as voice, paging, and facsimile (fax) messages, by way of the Internet or any other network system having some form of transmission control protocol and not necessarily the TCP/IP protocols. More specifically, the invention relates to communicating such messages from and to stations which need not themselves require a computer or, in the case of voice transmission, any other form of central processing unit or digital signal processor.
Conventional telephone and facsimile communication involves real time communication and is often directly between calling and receiving parties. These conventional techniques generally require a telephone and/or a facsimile machine. As numerous countries industrialize, telephones and facsimile machines are becoming more available world-wide. As the number of users increases, the amount of traffic generated by telephones and/or facsimile machines also increases proportionately. Telephone calls between users in different countries such as Japan and the United States, however, continue to be quite expensive. For instance, a typical week-long business trip in Japan from the United States can incur hundreds of U.S. dollars worth of telephone services. Increased traffic generated by telephones and/or facsimile machines also leads to “jams” in the communication lines, thereby leading to calls that never reach the receiving party.
In attempts to resolve some of these limitations, communication techniques have been proposed to use the Internet as a real time communication means. These communication techniques generally require at least two computers, where one computer is at the caller site and the other computer is at the receiver site. These computers, however, require a modem, which is connected to the Internet using a TCP/IP transmission protocol. A limitation with these techniques is that computers connected to the Internet are not generally available at easy to use locations. In addition, the servers on the Internet often malfunction, which lead to less than real time communication between calling and receiving parties.
From the above, it can be seen that a technique for communication that is easy-to-use and cost effective is highly desirable.